A native of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah moved to Alexandria, Virginia as a young adult and earned his doctorate from George Mason University in May 2004. That same month, federal agents arrested him on immigration charges, alleging that he had violated his student visa by accepting thousands of dollars in “wages or other compensation” from WAMY since 1999.

Abdullah said that the money in question was merely reimbursement for supplies he had bought, and that his work for WAMY was done on a volunteer basis. Fadel Soliman, executive manager of WAMY's U.S. branch, also claimed that Abdullah had never been paid by the organization.

Eventually, however, Abdullah pleaded guilty to the immigration charge. In July 2004 he was deported to Saudi Arabia, where he took a job as a computer science professor.